Sexuality Week

UAlbany�s 20th Annual Sexuality Week Features Dr. Henry Foster
Former Presidential Advisor to Present �Reproductive Issues: A 20-year Retrospective�

ALBANY, N.Y. (January 29, 2003) -- As part of the University at Albany�s Sexuality Week, physician, author and social educator Dr. Henry W. Foster, Jr. will deliver the keynote address �Reproductive Issues: A 20-year Retrospective� at the Campus Center Ballroom on the Uptown Campus, 8 p.m. on Feb. 13.

Foster is professor emeritus and former dean of the School of Medicine at Meharry College, and former clinical professor, obstetrics and gynecology, at Vanderbilt University. From 1996 to 2001, he served as former President Bill Clinton�s senior adviser on teen pregnancy reduction and youth issues.

Educated at Morehouse College and later the University of Arkansas, from which he received a doctor of medicine degree, he became chief of obstetrics and gynecology at the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital of Tuskegee University. There he helped pioneer what has become a national model for regionalized perinatal health care systems throughout the country. He was later inducted into the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1972, based in part on his work at Tuskegee.

Foster has served on many boards that seek to improve reproductive health, including those of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. In 1984, he became the first African American to be elected president of the Nashville Davidson County Obstetrical and Gynecological Society. He has been an examiner for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a member of the editorial board of Academic Medicine of the Association of American Medical Colleges. He is past president of the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, which addresses undergraduate educational issues in obstetrics and gynecology in all 125 American and 16 Canadian medical schools. Foster chairs the U.S. Committee for the United Nations Population Fund and serves as chair of the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine.

Also featured among Sexuality Week�s presentations is �My Experiences as an Actor and Activist,� by Mitchell Anderson of television�s �Party of Five,� at 8 p.m., Feb. 11, in the Campus Center Ballroom.

Anderson, a native of Jamestown, N.Y., studied at The Juilliard School in New York City and has had roles in television series and movies including �Doogie Howser, M.D.,� �The Karen Carpenter Story,� and the HBO special �If These Walls Could Talk 2.� On film, Anderson starred opposite Jennifer Tilly in the critically acclaimed �Relax, It�s Just Sex� and will be seen in the upcoming independent film �The Last Place on Earth.� Anderson has appeared on �Entertainment Tonight,� �Access Hollywood� and �Good Morning America,� and has been interviewed on gay and lesbian issues, especially as they relate to Hollywood, by the New York Times, Advocate, and USA Today.

Anderson works with the Victory Fund, which raises money for gay and lesbian candidates across the nation, and the Human Rights Campaign, the nation�s largest gay political organization, as well as numerous AIDS service organizations.

Sexuality Week began 20 years ago at UAlbany as a small series of workshops designed to educate students about critical choices they make throughout their college years. HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, as well as relationships, identity and reproductive health issues have been among the topics addressed over the years.

This year�s Sexuality Week, Feb. 6-14, comprises programs, performances and workshops by professional health educators. The programs are designed to encourage learning, dialogue and critical thinking in prevention education. Among the activities planned include an HIV/AIDS prevention exhibit, presentations on cultural diversity and sexual health, and a performance of the popular play �The Vagina Monologues.� For ticket information, contact (518) 465-3787 or [email protected].

Sexuality Week is coordinated by the Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program at the University Counseling Center, and funded by the Student Association. For a complete listing of programs visit https://www.albany.edu/counseling_center/sexweek.html.

Established in 1844 and designated a center of the State University of New York in 1962, the University at Albany's broad mission of excellence in undergraduate and graduate education, research and public service engages 17,000 diverse students in eight degree-granting schools and colleges.

For more information about this nationally ranked University, visit https://www.albany.edu.